Samsung at CES: One Screen is Not Enough

Samsung Electronics, at its pre-CES press event Monday, displayed a bevy of new products that showed how it plans to follow through in 2013 on its philosophy of offering multiple choices in several form factors in response to the desires of content-craving, screen-hopping U.S. consumers. It also announced 2013 OLED and Ultra HD model feature details.

“People want more screens and convenience in devices,” said Samsung Electronics president Boo-Keun Yoon. “They need easier ways to find and enjoy content. And 80 percent of consumers want TVs that can be updated with the latest features.”

So the company will market more devices to complement its Smart TV lines, and said it will deploy improved interface solutions that Samsung Electronics America president Tim Baxter said are designed for “harnessing the full power of those TVs.” He noted that Samsung shipped 66 million connected devices in the third quarter of 2012, “40 percent ahead of our nearest competitors.”

Samsung is making available an Evolution Kit – a “brain transplant for your TV,” as executive vice president Joe Stinziano put it – that enables owners of 2012 Samsung Smart TVs when they hook the kit into the back of their TV to bring the set’s features into line with the 2013 models in the new flagship LED F8000 TV series, which is being offered in 46-, 55-, 60-, 65- and 75-inch screen sizes.

One core user interface change that is on 2013 Smart TVs, the redesigned Smart Hub, provides a five-panel feature-set framework that organizes into each panel choices in live TV, movies/on demand content, stored content, social media content and Samsung Smart TV apps.

Another innovation, S-recommendation technology, discovers patterns in various viewers’ TV-watching habits, and tailors recommendations to them about what to watch based on those discoveries. The sets this year also include advance Voice Interaction, which lets viewers verbally direct the TV to search for content. Samsung’s Motion Control technology has also been refined for 2013 to be sensitive to subtler viewer movements.